Reaching Black Women for a Dietary Intervention to Reduce Breast Cancer Risk
Abstract
A culturally-sensitive questionnaire has been developed (n=247) and validated (n=180) for African American women, to assess Transtheoretical Model-based constructs of stage of change, decisional balance, self-efficacy, situational temptation, and processes of change in this population. As well, a pilot intervention based on transtheoretical model (TTM) principles (experimental group) was compared with an intervention based on health information dissemination (control group), using a pre-post design. The experimental group reported a significant decrease in percent of energy intake from fat (9%), and increase in grams of fiber intake (22%), while the control group did not. Both experimental and control groups improved marginally in stage of change level and serum HDL. However, the experimental group improved in more variables reflecting food group selection and TTM constructs than the control group, and also improved to a greater extent than the control group when variables were the same. Given the short-term intervention (12 weeks), the small sample size (n=41), a low recruitment rate (33%), and a high attrition rate (50%), these are encouraging findings. The next stage of experimentation envisioned is a large-scale clinical trial extending over 18 months to determine whether the TTM-based method is applicable generally to African American women.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA368411
Entities
People
- Margaret K. Hargreaves
Organizations
- Meharry Medical College